An Australian couple’s dream trip to Venice turned into a nightmare when flight attendants asked them to stay seated next to the body of a passenger who had died midflight for the final four hours of a 14-hour trip from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, Qatar.
What happened?
When a passenger collapsed during the flight, flight attendants tried to save her but were unsuccessful, Mitchell Ring, another passenger on the flight, said in an interview with an Australian news program, “A Current Affair,” on Channel 9. “They did everything they could, but unfortunately the lady couldn’t be saved, which was pretty heartbreaking to watch,” he said.
The crew tried to move the body to business class using a wheelchair, but it was too large to be moved through the aisle, Mr. Ring said in the interview. The flight attendants then saw that there were two open seats in the row of four seats where Mr. Ring and his wife, Jennifer Colin, were seated. They asked Mr. Ring to move over one seat, and placed the body in the seat where he had been sitting. Ms. Colin moved to a different row of seats.
Through tears, Ms. Colin, described the experience as shocking. “I’m not a great flyer at the best of times,” she said in the interview.
Upon landing, Mr. Ring said, he was told to stay seated as paramedics removed blankets from the body. The couple said in the interview that the airline had not offered them support.
Qatar Airways said in a statement on Wednesday that airline officials had spoken with the passengers seated next to the body to address their concerns.
“The safety and comfort of all our passengers is of paramount importance to us,” the statement said. “Our thoughts are with the family members of the passenger who sadly passed away.”
A spokesman did not respond to questions about whether the airline had offered compensation.
What is the protocol when a person dies midflight?
While distressing, moving the body of someone who has died to a seat is normal protocol, according to guidelines set by the International Air Transport Association, an airline trade group. Here is the standard procedure for flight attendants:
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Alert the captain. The captain will advise the authorities at the destination airport so that officials can be ready to meet the flight when it lands, according to the association.
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Move the deceased to a seat with few passengers around. If the flight is full, the body should be returned to its original seat or one that doesn’t obstruct an aisle or exit. “Be aware of the difficulty of the situation for companions and onlookers,” the guidelines say.
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Put the body in a body bag. Zip it up to the body’s neck, and secure the body in place with a seatbelt. If no body bag is available, cover the corpse with a blanket.
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Close the eyes.
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Disembark passengers first. Family members should stay with the body.
Why is a seat the safest option?
When dealing with a dead body on a flight, “you cannot leave it on the floor,” said José Alvarado, a pilot with the Icelandic airline Play, explaining that it could hit a nearby passenger if there were turbulence.
In the event of a medical emergency, the pilots will stay the course or divert the flight depending on the situation. There are doctors available via satellite communication to advise on how best to treat and monitor a patient, he said.
If all efforts fail and a passenger dies, pilots will often continue to the planned destination, Mr. Alvarado said. In his decades as a pilot, a passenger has died midflight only once while he was at the controls. It was 1999, and a passenger had a stroke on a flight from Havana to Madrid, he recalled. He continued flying to Madrid, where paramedics took the body and assisted the man’s daughter, he said.
“You have very little options at 39,000 feet,” Mr. Alvarado said.
How frequently do people die on planes?
In-flight deaths are rare. There is one medical emergency for every 604 flights, according to a study published in 2013 that reviewed medical emergencies on flights between 2008 and 2010. Of the more than 10,000 patients for whom data was available, just over a quarter were taken to hospitals and just 0.3 percent, or about 30, died. The most common issues were possible strokes or respiratory symptoms.
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